FreeLists / tn-bird / [TN-Bird] Re: Mute Swans in Weakley Co.

[Charlie <cmmbirds@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Mike, and others,

I've been watching a swan which I believe to be a Mute on a small
artificial pond near my house in Blount County.  It's always distant,
and on private property, and I happen to have been there either in
poor light or when it's been asleep.  I doubt this is a wild swan.

It really sounds like yours are wild.  DO you think it possible they
bred in TN?  

I believe it would be quite important to keep tabs on those suckers. 
If they have or will breed in TN, a management program should be
considered early on, before they have a chance to go nuts and  cause
harm to other waterfowl, vegetation, etc as they have on the
Chesapeake.

These are beautiful birds, and wonderful to watch, but they can be an
ecological nightmare.

Charlie
--- birder1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

> 12/31/04
> Garrett Lake
> Weakley Co.
> 
> After a good tip from David Pitts that there were some Swans
> present 
> (probably Mute's) on Garrett Lake in Weakley Co, I got a little
> time this 
> afternoon to run over and check it out. When David was there
> yesterday 
> morning most of the lake was still frozen over, and the birds were
> distant.
> 
> As I arrived, I saw a couple of Swans on lake, and sure enough they
> were 
> Mute's. Initially I only saw 3 birds, but most of the lake was
> hidden from 
> my vantage point. There are only two access points on Garrett Lake
> (a fair 
> size lake, over mile and half north to south), but from the one on
> the west 
> side of the lake you can see most of the water. A quick trip around
> the lake 
> revealed a total of 8 Mute Swans present. Six were remaining
> together, and 2 
> more were feeding separately. The group of 6 consists of 2 adults
> and what I 
> think are 4, 1st-winter birds. Two of the birds are still dingy
> with darkish 
> bills, obviously this-years hatch. The other two are basically
> white, with 
> fairly bright pink bills that lack the knob of the adults. The 2
> separate 
> birds were too far to be certain, but appeared to be adults. I had
> great 
> looks at the group of 6 as they cruised by the launch area while
> transiting 
> the lake.
> 
> A real treat was having one of the birds fly from one end of the
> lake to 
> other. I was looking through the scope when I started hearing what
> almost 
> sounded like a helicopter spooling up 
> (whoomp.....whooomp......whooomp......whoooomp), I looked up to see
> one of 
> the birds coming from the other end of the lake. The sound of those
> 
> wingbeats was most impressive. This was my 1st time to see a Mute
> Swan in 
> the air.
> 
> I have only had one other Mute in the state that I was confident
> was wild, 
> many years ago at Cross Creeks NWR. This was also during very bad
> winter 
> weather. I've seen other Mute's that very well could have been wild
> birds. I 
> talked to a couple of people that fish Lake Garrett regularly, that
> said the 
> birds weren't there a couple of weeks ago. They seem to have come
> in with 
> the bitter weather of late.
> 
> I've posted a few shots of these birds on my site, if interested
> just follow 
> the link and click on "next" to go to the next photo, a total of 4
> shots are 
> posted.
> http://www.pbase.com/mctodd/image/38107295
> 
> Good birding!!
> 
> Mike Todd
> McKenzie, TN
> Carroll Co.
> birder1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> www.pbase.com/mctodd
> 
> 
> 
> 
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=====
**************************************************
Charlie Muise, Naturalist near
Great Smoky Mountains National Park

"Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of cancer."  -Edward Abbey
**************************************************


                
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=================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER=====================

The TN-Bird Net requires you to sign your messages with
first and last name, city (town) and state abbreviation.
-----------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------
To post to this mailing list, simply send email to:
tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
----------------------------------------------------- 
To unsubscribe, send email to:
tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

  TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society 
       Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s)
        endorse the views or opinions expressed
        by the members of this discussion group.
 
         Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN
                 wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
     Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society
          web site at http://www.tnbirds.org
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp
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